Be better than them

Providing a service that is noticeably superior to anything that customers can obtain through illegitimate means is one of the most successful methods for combating piracy. This is not always easy because piracy services have become increasingly sophisticated over the past few years, particularly as they have shifted their focus to live streaming and app-based strategies. However, it is a goal that can be reached, and legitimate broadcasters can always stay one step ahead of those who are broadcasting content illegally by providing the most up-to-date services (multi-platform seamless catch-up, holistic search, targeted advertisements where advertisements are offered and so on), in addition to high picture quality at low latency.

Casual users are a subset of illicit content consumers; they are the ones who engage in this behavior mostly because it is simple to do so. It is clear that this is an effective method for discouraging casual users.

Make things simple

In the same breath that you want to make it simple for customers to sign up for illicit services, you also want to place as many roadblocks as possible in the way of those trying to steal your content so that they are less likely to do so. As the legitimate industry works harder to combat piracy, the precise nature of its challenges is always subject to change.

The issue is that technological systems have the propensity to either be hacked or become obsolete. 

It is essential for broadcasters and operators to make their anti-piracy policy as future-proof as they possibly can. This is especially cruciain light of the fact that content owners are becoming more cautious about securing their intellectual property and insisting on downstream accountability. Additionally, there is a growing trend to ensure that anti-piracy strategies are examined and evaluated as part of any licensing deal.

The appropriate technological means

Over the previous few years, piracy has seen extraordinary transformations. From a BitTorrent-based experience, which typically required at least a basic level of competing knowledge to access content, to Smart TV-based apps that are live-streaming premium content, it has grown significantly and become “better” (at least from the perspective of the pirate), and become more widespread.

Because of this, the technology used to combat it has had to accelerate significantly to function in a manner that is as close to the real-time performance window as the pirates do. An old adage says it is pointless to bring a knife to a gunfight; rather, you should equip yourself with the appropriate instruments for the task at hand.

At the moment, this entails utilizing technologies such as our very own Dynamic Watermarking, which can pinpoint the origin of a leak in the video distribution chain quickly and efficiently and is powerful enough to deal with the countermeasures that pirates have developed to combat it. Monitoring is also an important component of this effort; it is of little value to be able to stem a leak if you do not know it is occurring. You cannot stop it if you do not know it is occurring. As the pirates put up webs of links to an ever-growing number of servers, this means that proactive surveillance of a rising number of social media channels, niche websites, and other online destinations is becoming increasingly necessary.

A solid and reliable backend

Because of this, it is extremely important that any strategy developed to combat piracy also includes a variety of countermeasures that may be implemented quickly in response to unauthorized broadcasters. These provide an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of weapons that seek to eliminate the problem. These weapons range from highly effective real-time messages that can pop up and suggest that customers look for legal routes of content consumption to taking down notices that can shut down entire websites.

Quick action is essential to the success of any strategy, regardless of which one is selected. For the more comprehensive strategies, activating this step needs the coordination of multiple legal procedures. It is evident that the eventual prosecution will require some time, but deleting the content from the internet as soon as possible — preferably while it is still being shown — is a vital first step.

Teamwork

When looking at any good anti-piracy approach, one of the things that quickly becomes evident is that individual action can only carry companies so far. Companies can only go so far with individual action. The measures that try to secure content at all points along the production chain, from the shot all the way through distribution, and among all of the companies that are participating in the process are the ones that are going to be the most successful.

The losses that can build as a result of piracy are sufficient to bring competitors together in order to take concentrated and coordinated action. Companies that are a part of specific production chains are not the only ones affected. In point of fact, some of the most successful operations done against piracy have been carried out by umbrella organizations that represent the interests of parties that are, at times, fierce competitors.

That is not to suggest, however, that the actions of an individual have no significance. The pirates will monitor all of the various flows that comprise an ecology of broadcasting, and as soon as they locate a vulnerable area, they will pounce on it and use it to their advantage in order to open a breach. A breach in security at one company or at one point in the chain might potentially result in losses for all of the enterprises, depending on the links that exist between them.

The importance of education cannot be overstated.

The fact that video piracy has become so pervasive is one of the most significant issues that it presents. Ambivalent is the word that best describes people’s feelings on video piracy, as very few people genuinely consider it to be theft. This is something that anyone who works in the sector is aware of.

IP Arrow can make the process of anti-piracy easy and convenient for you. We aim to eliminate piracy and educate you on the matter with our many services. We are the best in the world when it comes to Usenet piracy removal among many other things.